Rankin cycle heat driven engines such as automobile engines have been available for years. Successful hydrocarbon combustion engines have reached efficiencies upward of 40% have been critical in the industrial development over the past century. The heat driven engine proposes to utilize a portion of this waste heat to drive all auxiliary equipment such as air condition, generator, and hydraulic systems on mobile and stationary engines. Although hybrid power systems are improving car mileage, the removal of energy consuming auxiliary systems will become critical to greater efficiency.
The power from gas turbine systems increases with inlet air temperature drop. Because gas turbines provide a significant percent of the world's electrical power, effort has been underway for decades to improve their power output efficiency. By utilizing turbine exhaust heat to power the heat engine which can drive a reciprocating refrigeration system, inlet air can be chilled, thereby increasing generator output.
Because of environmental effects changes in fluorocarbon compounds have affected air conditioning efficiencies, efforts have been made to improve the operation and efficiency of the compressor, condenser, evaporator, and components of these systems. Energy costs are increasing and are anticipated to continue to increase. Use of “free” energy, such as solar or wind, are increasingly attractive. Providing a solar heat driven reciprocating piston engine to power a refrigeration compressor to augment an existing air conditioning system can greatly reduce the electrical energy requirements.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,014 discloses a heat pump system which employs a diaphragm attached to the face of the piston. Diaphragms of this type do not reliably work in heat pump systems over time due to the repeated flexing of the diaphragms and the ability of the refrigerants to escape from the system through a very small crack. U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,144 discloses a solar powered pumping engine suitable for use in oil field pumping. Other patents of interest include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,839,863, 3,960,322, 4,068,476, 4,103,493, 4,178,989, 4,459,814, 4,571,952, 4,720,978, 4,739,620, 7,340,899, and 7,426,836.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,536,861 discloses a solar heat engine system, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,350 discloses a solar powered pumping system. U.S. Pat. No. 7,877,999 discloses an environmental heating and cooling system, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,845,345 discloses a solar-powered system for providing utilities. A solar energy powered generator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,779,635, and a stirling cycle engine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,726,129. U.S. Pat. No. 7,621,129 discloses another version of a geothermal power system.
The disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention, an improved heat powered reciprocating engine is hereinafter disclosed.